Deals: Week of April 2, 2012

By Rachel Deahl
|

Apr 02, 2012

Rawles Moves to DuttonRobert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group sold North American rights to two new novels by survivalist blogger James Wesley, Rawles to Brian Tart at Dutton. The books—the first is tentatively called Expatriates, while the second does not yet have a title—will continue the Survivors series, which began with 2011’s Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse from Atria. According to Gottlieb, that book went to #3 on the Times’s hardcover print list. The new books will follow the forthcoming Founders, which Atria is releasing in late September. Rawles is a former Army intelligence officer, and Gottlieb said Expatriates, which continues the tale of an officer surviving in a postapocalyptic world, asks: “What would you do if you were living overseas in the midst of a global economic collapse? Would you attempt to get home, or would you ‘ride it out’ in place?”

Giridharadas Gets ‘American’ for NortonNorton’s editor-in-chief, John Glusman, took North American rights to True American, a nonfiction tale of racism and revenge by International Herald Tribune columnist and India Calling author Anand Giridharadas. Steve Wasserman at Kneerim & Williams brokered the deal, and the book follows the attempted murder of a religious Muslim by a white Texas nationalist. Glusman called the book a “story about the collision of Islam and the West” as well as a tale of “the American dream as it is differently experienced by the long-settled and the recently arrived.” True American is scheduled for spring 2014.

Moreno Goes on Record for Penguin Denise Silvestro at Penguin’s Celebra Books imprint took world rights to Rita Moreno’s currently untitled memoir. Dan Strone, CEO of Trident Media Group, represented Moreno, and the book is set for a winter 2013 publication. Moreno was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York City as a young girl. She starred in a string of major Broadway productions before getting her big Hollywood break, playing Anita in the film adaptation of West Side Story. In the book Moreno will share stories about dating a string of A-list leading men, including Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando, as well as the difficulties of being a woman of color in Hollywood. As Moreno put it: “I was born Rosita Dolores, became Rita, and was serially cast as Latina, Thai, Native American Indian, Eastern Indian, Gypsy, and Cajun.... I played a generic ethnic maiden with an all-purpose foreign accent.”

Covenant House Head to Wiley Kevin Ryan, president of the nonprofit Covenant House (which provides shelter for homeless children), sold a book called Almost Home: From Homelessness to Hope, which he’s writing with Pulitzer-winning journalist Tina Kelley. Tom Miller at Wiley bought world rights from agent Andrew Blauner. The book, which will feature a foreword by Newark mayor Cory Booker, was, per Wiley, years in the making and follows the stories of six formerly homeless kids as they overcome myriad obstacles to achieve their dreams. The book is set for a fall 2012 release, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Covenant House.

Morrow Lands New EvanovichWilliam Morrow has inked a three-book deal with Stephanie Evanovich, niece of über-bestseller Janet Evanovich. Meg Ruley and Andrea Cirillo at Jane Rotrosen sold U.S., Canadian, and open market rights in the deal, which they closed with executive editor Rachel Kahan. The first of the three titles (and Evanovich’s debut) is Big Girl Panties, about a grieving widow who has a chance encounter with a personal trainer on an airplane; the book is set for summer 2013.

Pegasus Gets PrincelyClaiborne Hancock at Pegasus bought U.S. rights to Penny Junor’s biography, Prince William: The Man Who Will Be King. The book is set to be published in the U.K. by Hodder in June, and Pegasus will be coordinating its U.S. release with British publication. Junor is a British journalist who has written a number of books about the Windsor family; Pegasus said this book will be the first in-depth look at both Prince William and his relationship with his new wife, Kate Middleton.

Briefs Katie Gilligan at St. Martin’s pre-empted world rights to Ronald Irwin’s debut novel, Flat Water Tuesday. Agent Tris Coburn, who has an eponymous agency, did the deal and said the book, about a documentary filmmaker who returns to his boarding school while going through a difficult breakup, is “in the vein of The Art of Fielding and A Separate Peace.”Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich sold world English rights to Phyllis Chesler’s currently untitled memoir to Karen Wolny at Palgrave. Chesler, a well-known feminist, discusses the difficult marriage she had, as a young bride, with an Afghan man. Elaborating, Dystel said Chesler explores, through her own story, “the charged and complicated relationship between the Islamic East and the West, Westerners who have been drawn to the Islamic world, Muslims who have been drawn to the West, and what happened as a result of these mutual attractions.”

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